According to the embodiment, there is provided a solar cell including: a back electrode layer; a light absorbing layer on the back electrode layer; a buffer layer on the light absorbing layer; and a front electrode layer on the buffer layer, wherein the front electrode layer comprises an intrinsic region and a doping region having a conductive dopant, and a concentration of the conductive dopant is gradually lowered in upward and downward directions from an excess doping region of the doping region.

A polymer substrate and back contact structure for a photovoltaic element, and a photovoltaic element include a CIGS photovoltaic structure, a polymer substrate having a device side at which the photovoltaic element can be located and a back side opposite the device side. A layer of dielectric is optionally formed at the back side of the polymer substrate. A metal structure is formed at the device side of the polymer substrate.

Disclosed is a photovoltaic device that includes a solar cell on a light transmissive substrate in the form of an array of equal diameter optical fibers laid adjacent to each other in the transversal direction of the fibers. With such an arrangement, light harvesting at high angles is improved by 30%.

A method for forming a photovoltaic device includes forming an absorber layer with a granular structure on a conductive layer; conformally depositing an insulating protection layer over the absorber layer to fill in between grains of the absorber layer; and planarizing the protection layer and the absorber layer. A buffer layer is formed on the absorber layer, and a top transparent conductor layer is deposited over the buffer layer.

A multilayer structure including a substrate and a first stack of a layer of SiO.sub.2 and a layer of material of the SiO.sub.xN.sub.yH.sub.z type positioned between the substrate and the layer of SiO.sub.2, in which the layer of SiO.sub.2 and the layer of material of the SiO.sub.xN.sub.yH.sub.z type have thicknesses (e.sub.B, e.sub.A) such that the thickness of the layer of SiO.sub.2 is less than or equal to 60 nm, the thickness of the layer of material of the SiO.sub.xN.sub.yH.sub.z type (e.sub.B) is more than twice the thickness (e.sub.A) of the layer of SiO.sub.2, and the sum of the thicknesses of the layer of SiO.sub.2 and of the layer of material of the SiO.sub.xN.sub.yH.sub.z type is between 100 nm and 500 nm, and in which z is strictly less than the ratio (x+y)/5, and advantageously z is strictly less than the ratio (x+y)/10.

Disclosed are a solar cell and a method of fabricating the same. The solar cell includes a support substrate, a back electrode layer on the support substrate, a light absorbing layer on the back electrode layer, and a front electrode layer on the light absorbing layer. The back electrode layer includes at least three layers. The method includes forming a first layer on a support substrate, forming a second layer on the first layer, forming a third layer on the second layer, forming a light absorbing layer on the third layer, and forming a front electrode layer on the light absorbing layer.

Disclosed are a solar cell apparatus and a method of fabricating the same. The A solar cell apparatus includes a substrate; a back electrode layer on the substrate; a light absorbing layer on the back electrode layer; and a window layer on the light absorbing layer, wherein the light absorbing layer is formed with a third through hole having a first width, and the window layer is formed with a fourth through hole having a second width larger than the first width, and the fourth through hole corresponds to the third through hole.

Disclosed are a solar cell and a method for manufacturing the same. The solar cell includes a substrate, a back electrode layer on the substrate, a light absorbing layer on the back electrode layer, a buffer layer on the light absorbing layer, and a window layer on the buffer layer. The buffer layer is formed through a chemical equation of (A.sub.xZn.sub.1-x)O(0≤x≤1), in which the A represents a metallic element.

A method for producing an intermediate product for obtaining a photovoltaic module comprising a plurality of solar cells, said method comprising the following steps: (a) localized deposition on a substrate (4) of a layer of metal (8) so as to cover at least one portion (401) of the substrate, (b) deposition on this localized layer (8) of a layer (41) of conductive material, said layer coating the localized layer (8).

A method of forming a coating layer on a glass substrate in a glass manufacturing process includes: providing a first coating precursor material for a selected coating layer composition to at least one multislot coater to form a first coating region of the selected coating layer; and providing a second coating precursor material for the selected coating layer composition to the multislot coater to form a second coating region of the selected coating layer over the first region. The first coating precursor material is different than the second precursor coating material.